By Alec Meer on February 12th, 2009 at 5:22 pm.
As you’ve probably seen on various news sites that really should know better, tomorrow the streets of London will endure some feline-mounted advertising. Specially-trained black cats will stalk the pavements bearing FEAR 2-emblazoned jackets. The link? Well, tomorrow is Friday the 13th, the unluckiest day of the year. And black cats are also bad luck. And being superstitious is sort of like being afraid, and thus directly relevant to FEAR 2! Their plan is genius in its simplicity.
I’m really not impressed by this most tenuous of logic, so tomorrow I will lurk doggedly by my window watching out for one of these little frackers. When I see one, I’ll spring my scathing counter-attack…
(click to embiggen)
Yeah, eat that, bitches. WHO’S LAUGHING NOW?
Unfortunately, my own black cat is not specially trained by any measure:
Still, dragging a screaming, squirming beast about Camden is bound to attract more attention to my advert than would a well-behaved moggy passing quietly by. I totally win.
Trying not to cackle madly at work. Damn you, Meer.
report
Black cats are only bad luck if you let them cross your path. Cats are cuddly and not the least bit fear-inducing.
They’d do better promoting FEAR by letting a few rabies-addled creatures loose in the city. Hell, they’d get more media attention.
report
Black cats are supposed to be lucky in the U.K.
+1 to buy kings bounty , it’s ace.
report
They should advertise FEAR 2 by reading Kieron’s Eurogamer review through loudspeakers and watch as the Very Very Angry Internet Men in the populace explode in apoplectic rage.
“HOW DARE YOU SAY IT’S NOT THE BEST GAME EVERRRR RAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH” *pop*
report
@jsutcliffe –
Black cats are fear inducing, especially when you find one sitting ontop of you slapping you awake at three in the morning after it climbed through your upstairs window. Cats are evil, they just trick you with their cuteness.
Oh yeah and bonus points on the Middleman quote used, well played Meer, well played.
report
So… any opinions on the game Alec? I already know Kieron’s. ;)
report
Well it’s “meh” advertising for a somewhat decidely “meh” looking game.
report
I agree with the above, you should definitely add “Better than FEAR2 to your advert.” Then get into an actual catfight with one of those catverts.
report
Awww…
Anyway aren’t they lucky if they cross your path, unlucky if you cross theirs? (In the uk anyway)
@bansama – you’re saying black cats are “meh”? Very bad luck.
report
I love your cat’s disdain for your attempt at advertising. Good Kitty.
I hope they don’t pick suicidal black cats, or release them from the cat hangar they keep on Floor 10.
report
I’m going to go out on a limb and say I think I know who would win between this advertising and the Dawn of War II advertising.
Needless to say, it would be messy.
report
Black cats are sooo cute :)
report
Does your cat have a bit of bombay in him/her? Or full bombay? Just looks alot like mine, and he’s a playful bastard no mistake.
Even if I’m not overwhelmed by the game this does make me like whichever souless advertising execs they got to come up with this idea.
report
Poor man in a tank. The alma acts would rip him apart.
Personally i think they should have gotten little girls in red dresses and no shoes to walk around london.
report
Awww.. cats! So much meme and so little time…
report
IN UR STREETZ, PROMOTIN UR GAMEZ?
report
Leaving aside the basic stupidity of the idea, I can’t imagine the cats enjoying this much. I’d rather see the marketing staff fitted with saddles and ridden like horses through Hyde Park by midgets. That might get me to open my wallet.
report
They should have had black-haired girls stand in the corner of everyone’s line of sight who disappear round a corner every time someone looks their way. Kind of like a creepier Anthony Gormley.
report
The Google ads on this story are great!
“Online Cat Shop
Huge Online Cat Shop at low prices. Save now & get 10% off 1st order!
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shops/cat”
Although I am seriously disturbed that anyone would sell cats on-line. So much so I’ve actually stared out the URL.
Edit: Phew, its merely cat accessories they sell. URL re-instated.
report
Did you slip a BSG curse word into your article? If so, excellent. Also, adorable cat.
report
VIDEOS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN
report
I wouldn’t say that black cats are “meh”, but I’ve known a black cat who said “meh”.
I’ve also seen a young seal that could say “five”. It hadn’t quite worked out how to bark yet.
report
@amishmonstre: And a Simpsons reference. Also excellent.
report
Pictures of the writers cat. That’s what tells you it’s a blog!
Also very funny. That’s what tells you it’s Mr. Meer!
Deduction tells me this can only be RPS.
report
Is caturday now?
report
AMAZING
report
I had no idea it was Friday the 13th tomorrow. Ah well. I don’t know of any black felines, but I have a gray rabbit. He’s cool, cooler than any damn cat.
report
I’m waiting for a lolcat caption…
report
@Oddtwang – What? It’s a perfectly cromulent word I’ll have you know.
report
It seems like the marketing department took it’s cue from Sims 2 Pets. If only I could train my 3 to make some money.
report
Hmmm… I have a sudden urge to play King’s Bounty.
report
It depresses me to think someone got paid to come up with that godawful marketing plan. Now, if they had little girls in red wandering round London killing people with their minds, that would be scary.
report
“tomorrow I will lurk doggedly”
But big laughs for your cat’s behaviour. My wife tried to teach our cat to walk on a leash but only succeeded in buffing the hardwood.
report
what a terrible frickin’ promotional “stunt”. girls in red dresses would have been much niftier.
while mr. gillen’s eurogamer review of fear 2 was indeed harsh, he’s not really wrong.
report
Can we discuss the eurogamer fear 2 review here?
report
Plus people are reading the score not the text seemingly. It’s not really harsh at all.
report
That FEAR cat looks sad… But I’d definitely buy King’s Bounty if I saw your cat walking down the street.
report
Whilst I don’t think this was an awesome marketing plan, I’d rather look at this than more pretty ‘gamer babes’ or any attractive females peddling games. I’m so disenchanted.
report
“Can we discuss the eurogamer fear 2 review here?”
let’s discuss the comment thread instead. it’s a microcosm of what you’ll find in the project origin community site – a deep, nearly spiritual, loathing of the other.
also the running conviction that the opinions of others are often part of a machiavellian plot to…discredit monolith.
report
genius
report
@Klaus: as cute and fluffy as I find kittens, I’m still pretty sure what I’d prefer to see. [/misogyny]
report
Wait.
TRAIN?
CATS?
Those two words actually go TOGETHER?
report
cats CAN be cuddly. They can also struggle like ferrets with knucledusters made of razor blades if they don’t agree that it’s time to visit the vet.
That’s my experience.
report
omg, kitteh!!!! seriously, they better be releasing like hundreds of them into a busy square – now that would freak me out.
report
also, miaaaow – cats are evil and are secretly plotting to take over the world by assimilating themselves into a humanoid form – however before they can do this they need to study our behaviour, which is exactly why they are both A) so goddamn cuddly and B) so paranoid…
report
Couldn’t you promote something good instead of King’s Bounty?
WHO’S EXPLODIN WITH RAGE NOW, HATAZ?
report
I’m sorry guys. It had to be done.
report
Yum. Black cats are the tastiest. Fricassee lightly in butter after skinning and gutting. I prefer them de-veined, but some do prefer that chewy, stringy texture.
report
@Larington
“TRAIN? CATS? Those two words actually go TOGETHER?”
Certainly. Observe: “I like throwing cats in front of speeding trains.”
See?
report
@Chaos Smurf
Sleep lightly tonight, for Alec will now attempt to sneak into your room and steal your zombie wife. (For revenge I add)
report
I thought you were going to put a “No Fear” shirt on a dog (rottweiler perhaps?) and chase the cats and their handlers down the street.
You could improve their ad campaign and terrorize people. It’s win win.
report
Did you… sellotape that?
report
Mark_P: yes, because clearly taking cats for a walk constitutes blatant animal abuse. They’ll be taking dogs for a walk next.
report
… I have a wife?
report
I’ve heard urban myths about Anne Sullivans who teach cats to use toilets, open doors, fetch things that aren’t small dead animals, even walk on a leash. However after 30 years of various cat-coexistence and failed attempts at suggestive reprogramming, I think the odds of it happening to any of mine is about the same as Fear2 being a totally amazing must-have title.
report
Your catvertisement is much better Alec. As for Kieron’s Eurogamer review, two of my friends have bitterly opposed impressions of fear2 based on the demo:
friend a: fear2 seems like more fear1, which was fun. yay!
friend b: fear2 seems like more fear1, why should we bother playing it again?
report
Meer-cat???
report
@wcaypahwat: you win :)
report
starts with a W…
rhymes with spinach…
report
Whi-nach ? Probably not.
report
@bansama – you’re saying black cats are “meh”? Very bad luck.
Having shared a house with several, yeah. They’re nothing special. The huge furry odd-eyed white cat I had, now he was something special. You sure didn’t want to upset him when he wanted to eat your dinner. The black cats though? Real push-overs.
report
Is 3:32 AM. Can we start the furry jokes? this is the internets…
report
Now?
report
Did someone find a magic box containing stupid marketing ideas Acclaim never got round to using?
report
“@bansama – you’re saying black cats are “meh”? Very bad luck.”
The huge furry odd-eyed white cat I had, now he was something special. You sure didn’t want to upset him when he wanted to eat your dinner. The black cats though? Real push-overs.
Don’t be racist!
Sorry, I had to, heheh. Now, who’s the one taking bets on how long it takes for PETA to turn up and…
(Use Arrows Keys and Enter select a dialogue option)
> [Sympathy] help save these poor little kitties?
> [Cynicism] use this as an opportunity to advertise themselves?
> [Unrelated Topic] Alec your cat has freaky eyes. Woah.
report
now if they would give those cats random firing lasers!
report
This would be a great way to sell something to my wife. If the product in question wasn’t a graphically violent FPS, that is.
report
My review of Kieron’s review of F.E.A.R. 2:
Not paid by the word, I gather.
report
All these kittehs look exactly like mine. And Alec’s cat acts exactly like mine. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaw. I am intrigued by King’s Bounty now.
report
I think saying this is the unluckiest day of the year is a little unfair on the other Friday the 13ths in March and November!
report
That cat in the first photo looks so phenomenally sad.
Good!
Evil things.
report
Genius?!?! Jeeez, open your eyes!! This must be the most stupid campaign in the history of mankind (next to Sony’s stunt with the goat of course). Cats tend to flee when there are lots of people around them, you can’t train them for that. These poor kitties will have a lot of stress walking on a leash in the middle of the street, unable to run away. Gosh, humans are soooo incredibly arrogant towards other beings. I wish that the people behind this braindead idea get attached to a leash and put into a cage with tigers…
report
well, it beats their original plan to skin them and use them as kites.
report
Maybe the cats inspire FEAR as they are trained to leap on your head when you’re in the middle of a game. Like my cat. That’ll scare the crap out of you.
report
Maybe they don’t expect the black cats in the street to draw attention to the game rather than the disbelieving journos, and subsequently readers, writing about it.
It managed to get them free advertizing here at least.
report
cool kittie!
report